Perfect Game and the Baseball Championship Series (BCS) have been putting a serious amount of work into making the BCS Finals events that are on par with the already established World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) National Championships.

Unlike the WWBA National Championships, which feature up to 192 teams, the BCS events are invitation/qualification only events with significantly smaller fields competing for the national title. Of course, another difference is that while the WWBA uses wood bats exclusively, players in the BCS events swing only metal.

In order to make the BCS Finals even more special, Perfect Game has joined forces with Rawlings Sporting Goods to create the “BCS Finals Home Run Challenge, sponsored by Rawlings”.

Each team at each BCS Finals this summer will select one player from their roster to participate in the Challenge. There will be a preliminary round and championship round, with the standard “10 Outs” format used for home run contests. All participants in the Challenge will be using bats supplied by Rawlings, just as Rawlings did at the home run contest held at the 2008 Perfect Game National Showcase in the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

As they did in the Metrodome, Rawlings will be using the events to help test and evaluate their latest and best line of metal bats. Jonathan Singleton won the 2008 PG National home run contest, blasting numerous 450+ blasts into the right field upper deck using the Rawlings bats.

In addition to the BCS Finals Home Run Challenge, sponsored by Rawlings, there will also be a Fastest Man Contest held concurrently at each BCS National Championship. Each participating team will nominate two players from their roster to compete against the fastest athletes at the event. The winner will be the player with the fastest time in the final round of 60’s.

Dates and Times for the BCS Finals Home Run Challenge, sponsored by Rawlings, and the Fastest Man Contest, are listed below.

For more information on the BCS Finals and the Home Run Challenge/Fastest Man Contest, contact Ben Ford at benford@perfectgame.org.